Burners are used with heat exchangers, such as gas furnaces. For example, a flammable fluid, such as natural gas, may be fed into a burner that supplies heat to a heat exchanger.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art device 100 for providing heat to a heat exchanger. The device 100 is a uniform burner head design with fixed burner head heights. As illustrated, each burner 110, of the device 100, may include a single venturi inlet 120 coupled to an end of a body 130. The other end of the body 130 is coupled to a single burner head 140. Several burners 110 may be included in the device 100. The burners 110 are uniformly sized and spaced. For example, the burner 100 may be formed by creating uniform openings (e.g., by stamping) in a body. The uniform openings may be the burner heads and the height of the burner head is flush with the outer surface of the body of the burner.
Flames 150 are produced by the burners 110. The flame produced by each burner head of each burner may receive different amounts of air proximate the burner heads, which affects the temperature, size, and/or shape of the flames produced. Thus, some flames may be the result of fuel/air ratios that are too high or too low. This may cause performance issues (e.g., incomplete burn and/or increased operation costs) and/or increase the risk for flashback. This configuration of the device 100 may also require a flashback arrestor or other device to prevent flashback due to different flame profiles generated by each of the burners.